AI-Driven Academic Dishonesty in Rural EFL Writing Classrooms: Types, Rationales, Impacts, and Coping Strategies
Keywords: ChatGPT, Academic dishonesty, EFL Academic writing, Rural context
Abstract
While many studies discuss academic integrity in the age of generative AI tools in a general educational context, little study has been focused on its usage and impact on academic dishonesty in rural university settings. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate rural teachers' insights, students' rationales, impacts, and strategies of ChatGPT usage in students' writing English texts. This study used a survey design, and 47 English-majoring university teachers from rural Indonesia participated in the study. The participants were invited to complete an open-ended survey, asking for their responses on rural students' AI usage during several writing-related courses. Through a thematic analysis, the findings reveal several insights into academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, disclosed assistance of ChatGPT, and paraphrasing without attribution. Students' rationales include a lack of writing competencies or anxiety about writing test failure. The impacts of ChatGPT overreliance comprise failure to develop writing skills or deficiency in developing critical thinking skills. A need for rigorous and stricter rules or adjustments in writing assessment is believed to be a proper coping strategy. Although there is a rapid trend of ChatGPT use in writing classrooms, teachers' intensive roles and students' academic self-awareness are required to control any dishonest practices.